DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 10 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Graf et al. (DE 10 2019 118711, hereafter referred to as Graf) in view of Wilke et al. (EP 3623773, hereafter referred Wilke).
Regarding claim 10, Graf teaches an automation field device, comprising: a measuring tube 1 for conducting a flowable medium; a measuring arrangement (see figure 3) operable for determining a physical and/or chemical measured variable of the medium, wherein the measuring arrangement is at least partially arranged on the measuring tube; and a housing 8 configured to accommodate at least one electronic component 7 configured to operate the measuring arrangement, control a control variable of the measuring arrangement, determine a measured value of the measured variable, and/or evaluate the measured variable, wherein the housing is arranged on an outer lateral surface of the measuring tube (see figures 2 and 3) and at least partially covers the measuring arrangement, wherein the housing includes a housing wall (11, 12) that, together with the outer lateral surface of the measuring tube, delimits a housing interior, wherein the housing wall includes a first edge section 11 which, at least in portions, is in direct contact with the outer lateral surface of the measuring tube (see figure 3), wherein the first edge section is curved away from the housing interior at least in portions (see figure3).
However, Graf does not explicitly teach wherein at least the first edge section is braced in a force-fitting manner to the measuring tube.
Wilke teaches a measuring tube comprising a measurement arrangement housing which is connected to the tube in a force-fitting manner (screw connections 23).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to modify the device of Graf with the teaching of Wilke in order to provide a pressure-tight and/or removable connection.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-18 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
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/JAMEL E WILLIAMS/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2855